**UPDATE** For anyone who thinks it ridiculous that Obama would welcome this kind of reaction, consider this excerpt from page 117 of Rules for Radicals, the book penned by his hero, Saul Alinsky:

"An organizer must stir up dissatisfaction and discontent... He must create a mechanism that can drain off the underlying guilt for having accepted the previous situation for so long a time. Out of this mechanism, a new community organization arises....
"The job then is getting the people to move, to act, to participate; in short, to develop and harness the necessary power to effectively conflict with the prevailing patterns and change them. When those prominent in the status quo turn and label you an 'agitator' they are completely correct, for that is, in one word, your function—to agitate to the point of conflict."

Some will argue that such an excerpt is actually talking about the agitation of forces who share his position but in reality, if conflict is the ultimate goal, does it really matter who you agitate? This may also go a long way in explaining why Obama came out for gay marriage despite it being politically untenable.